


Into the Fire

by caveyoja



Series: The Family You Choose [9]
Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-13 22:30:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17496593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caveyoja/pseuds/caveyoja
Summary: The aftermath of the shooting at the motel.





	Into the Fire

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the long delay - Season 2 came out the day after finals finished and binge watching it twice led to me starting another work that I'll hopefully post sometime soon.
> 
> This is going to be the last work in this series for a while - thanks to season 2 this is now very much AU, so this installment will wrap things up for now, with maybe one more follow up piece in the future.
> 
> Thanks for reading!

They’d rushed in after they saw the light under the doorway fade and found Alex and Karo trying to pull a gun away from some woman. There wasn’t much room for him to help, so he hung back with Gert and Nico and waited for an opening. He hadn’t noticed Lace slipping in behind them until she had circled around in back of them and was facing the woman with the gun, looking for an opening herself. He could hear her growling softly, and her talons scraping against the tiles as she adjusted her footing.

The woman must have heard as well - he saw her swing the gun around to aim straight at Lace at the same time Gert saw it. Without any hesitation Gert lunged forward, putting herself between Lace and grabbing for the gun. He followed,, trying to shield Gert with his body and at least push the gun out of the way if he couldn’t get it out of the woman’s hands. But then the woman nudged the safety off, so he changed course, spinning around, grabbing Gert and tackling her back into Lace, using their momentum to push the dinosaur down as well. 

A split second after that he felt Lace’s weight shift and they started falling. There was a burning pain in his side and he never even felt it when he hit the ground.

 

Gert remembered Chase tackling her and Lace, which explained why they were tangled up on the ground, but she couldn’t figure out why she was so disoriented and why everything seemed so fuzzy. Her ears were ringing from the sound of the gunshot and she was having problems focusing on anything. She tried to sit up, but couldn’t move her shoulder, and guessed it was because Chase was still on top of her. She nudged him to try to get him to move. He muttered something she couldn’t hear, and tried to put a hand on the ground to balance himself, but it slipped out from under him and he landed on top of her again.

She chuckled and tried to reach out for him, but pain shot through her arm as soon as she tried to move it and she choked back a scream. Chase looked up at her, his eyes widening, and he scrambled to get off her and help her to a sitting position. It wasn’t until he was next to her that she noticed the blood, and it took her even longer to put together that, despite the long red scar that grazed his side, the blood was probably more hers than his. 

She heard Nico yell out, “No!” and then she was next to them, looking even paler than normal. Alex showed up next, took a glance to assess the situation, grabbed some dish towels and pressed them into her shoulder. The pain shot through her again, worse than anything she’d ever felt and she couldn’t stop herself from sobbing through it. Chase had grabbed her good hand and held his other hand against the side of her face, and if she could hear what he was saying it would’ve probably been comforting – he was always good with her nightmares, and so it figured he be good at keeping her calm now. Alex repositioned the towel and the pain shot through her again, and she sort of remembered screaming before it all went black.

 

Alex briefly let up on the pressure to try to examine the wound and Gert screamed as the wound reopened, gripping tighter onto Chase’s hand before she passed out. Alex quickly re-applied pressure and swore under his breath as he worked through his options. He turned to Nico and spoke quietly, not wanting Eiffel to overhear, “Get the phone in the computer case in my room – the phone Chase left with the Yorkes’ is on speed dial – we need them to talk us through this.”

Nico nodded, rushed out of the room, and he turned to Karo, who had grabbed the gun and stood guard over Eiffel. “Get her into the pantry – wedge a chair under the door to lock her in. We can deal with her after Gert’s patched up.” He saw Karo nod, and pull the woman to her feet, pausing to swear under he breath as she realized who it was. 

“How is it?” Chase asked softly.

Alex shook his head, “I’m not sure….I don’t think it’s too bad? I mean, it looks like it went clean through, but the pressure isn’t stopping all the bleeding...we really need to get her medical attention.”

Chase nodded, “Even if it means going back.”

“Even if it means going back,” Alex agreed.

Gert groaned as she woke back up, and both Alex and Chase tried to stop her from moving. “We’re not fucking going back,” Gert decreed.

“Baby -” Chase started.

Gert grabbed on to his hand tighter, “Promise me! Do NOT take me back.”

Chase looked into her eyes, “Promise me you won’t die?”

Gert’s lips tugged up into a smile, “Not anytime soon, baby.”

Molly burst into the room, and shouted her sister’s name when she saw her bleeding on the floor. She knelt on Gert’s other side, sobbing as she asked, “Are you ok?”

Gert forced a smile, “I’m gonna be ok, Molls, promise.” She tried to move to get closer to Molly and bit back a scream at the pain while Chase looked at her disapprovingly. Giving up, she relaxed and tried to force another smile, “Chase ‘n Alex got this. Take care of Lace for me?”

Molly shook her head – not wanting to leave her sister, but worried that she would just be in the way of whatever needed to be done to save Gert. Karo stood next to her and pulled her up to her feet, taking her off to the side where the two of them huddled with Lace.

Nico ran back into the room, skidding to a stop as she finished dialing the number. She held the phone to her ear with her shoulder as she twisted the cover off the vodka she’d grabbed on the way back and handed the bottle to Chase. Chase nodded in thanks and lifted the bottle to Gert’s lips. She took a couple of gulps and then choked on the liquid, sputtering, “Gah – had to be the cheap stuff, hunh?”

Chase’s hand shook as he put the bottle to the side, and he pasted on a smile for Gert, “A couple more shots and you won’t be able to tell the difference.”

Nico had put the phone on speaker and they heard it pick up on the third ring, with Stacey’s slightly suspicious voice echoing through the room, “Hello?”

Alex took the lead, “Stacey – it’s Alex. We need you to talk us through treating a gunshot wound.”

“Who is it? Are they ok?” Dale asked urgently.

“Well, of course they’re not ok!” Stacey chastised, “Someone got shot!”

“Gert’s been shot,” Alex interrupted, “She was hit in the shoulder, and I think the bullet went through because there’s an exit wound, but the bleeding isn’t stopping.”

“How long since she was shot?” Dale asked.

“About 5 minutes,” Nico answered, “Maybe less.”

There was a shuffling sound on the other end of the phone and then Stacey’s voice come on, “OK – how much blood has she lost?” 

“A lot,” Molly answered shakily.

“Molly, baby, it’s gonna be ok,” Dale reassured her.

“Your sister’s very strong, sweetheart, “ Stacey agreed.

“Maybe a pint, pint and a half,” Chase cut in.

“And she’s still bleeding?” Dale asked for confirmation.

“Yeah,” Alex said, lifting the towel away to confirm.

“OK – look around for the bullet – we can assume that it went all the way through if you can find that,” Stacey instructed.

“Are you anywhere near any kind of medical facility?” Dale cut in.

“Nearest is a couple of hours away,” Alex responded.

“I’ve got it!” Nico shouted, holding up a flattened piece of metal.

“Does it look like a fragment or a whole bullet?” Stacey asked.

Nico raised an eyebrow as she stared at the bullet, “I have absolutely no idea.’

“Bring it here,” Chase asked. Nico held the bullet out toward him and he nodded, “Flattened, but intact,” he said. As the others stared at him he shrugged, “My mom thought I should about how to handle guns, ok?” 

“OK – so, bullet’s not in the wound – are both entry and exit still bleeding?” Dale asked.

Alex examined the wound again, “Entry wound looks ok – exit wound’s still bleeding.”

Stacey piped in, “Gert, baby, how are you doing?”

Gert moaned softly and Chase answered, “Um – she’s kind of pale and clammy. She had a couple of shots of vodka, but I don’t think that’s why she’s out of it.”

“OK,” Dale interrupted, “It sounds like shock. We need to stop that bleeding, and that means cauterizing the wound.”

The kitchen fell silent, and Alex cursed softly. He took a moment to gather his courage, and then asked, “What do I do?”

“Maybe….not you?” Dale offered.

“Is Karolina there?” Stacey asked.

Karo looked up, and nervously answered, “I’m here.”

“Karolina – I’ve seen Jonah create a very thin, very strong beam of light - basically a laser, and that’s exactly what Gert needs right now.”

Karo’s mouth dropped open and she shook her head silently. Nico stepped forward, taking one hand and placing her other hand to the side of Karo’s face. While keeping her eyes on Karo, Nico called out, “Could we use a hot knife or something like that?”

“There’s much more risk of infection that way,” Dale explained.

“Please, Karolina,” Stacey’s voice choked, “You’re her best chance.”

Nico looked into Karo’s eyes and quietly said, “You can do this, baby. She needs you.”

Karo shook her head, “I...I don’t want to hurt her.”

“The wound needs to be cauterized. It’s going to hurt however that happens – but, if you do it, it’s her best chance.”

Karo glanced over to Gert, and then looked back into Nico’s eyes, “What if I fuck it up? What if I hurt her worse?”

Nico shook her head, “You won’t. We all have faith in you. You can do this.”

Karo closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She’d been practicing, and she had tried creating pinpoint lasers, but they were the hardest to keep focused. If she lost control she could accidentally kill Gert….but if she didn’t do something soon, one of her best friends would bleed to death. She opened her eyes and looked at Nico who nodded encouragingly, and then glanced over to Chase, and she called out, “Chase? What do you think Gert would want?”

Chase kept his eyes focused on his girlfriend, “She’d want you to do it. She trusts you.”

Karo squeezed Nico’s hand, smiled grimly, and walked over to stand behind Alex. “What exactly do I do?” she asked Dale and Stacey.

“First you need to flush out the wound – start with water and then use the vodka if you’ve got any left,” Stacey’s voice started to get shaky as she finished. Nico pulled a bottle of water from the counter and handed it to Alex, who quickly flushed the wound out. Gert stirred as the towel was removed and she felt the cool water, but then opened her eyes and cried out as the alcohol stung.

Chase grasped her good hand tighter, and used his other hand to guide her face so she was focused on him. “Baby, you’re bleeding, and we need to stop that. OK?”

“Mm-hm,” she acknowledged with a nod, and tried to turn her head to look at what Alex and Karo were doing behind her.

Chase gently cupped her chin and got her focused on him again, “Sweetheart, we need to cauterize the wound, and it’s going to hurt really bad. So, you do whatever you need to so you get through it, ok? Scream, cry, whatever, but you need to keep your shoulder still while the wound gets sealed up, ok?” Gert nodded, her expression scared, and Chase looked into her eyes, doing his best to keep his voice calm and reassuring, “Just focus on me, baby.” Gert nodded slowly, kept her eyes fixed on Chase, and Chase didn’t look away as he announced, “We’re ready.”

“How...”, Karo paused to clear her throat, “How do I do this?”

“You’ll need to hold the wound closed,” Dale instructed, “And use the laser light to sear the edges together.”

Karo nodded, and took Alex’s place behind Gert. She took a second to close her eyes and focus herself. This was no different than the times she’d practiced. All she needed was a thin, hot beam. She put her left hand on the wound and held the top edges together, pulled the light into the beam she needed, and then focused it on the join between the edges. She heard Gert crying, but she forced herself to tune it out and concentrate on moving down the gash in her friends back, working one section at a time, branching out to get the jagged edges that radiated away from the gaping center.

Karolina wasn’t sure how long it took to finish. When the wound had finally closed enough that the bleeding stopped, she scuttled away until her back was against the wall and looked back at where she’d been. Gert was sobbing in Chases arms as Alex finished bandaging up her shoulder. She stared at the thin white scars that marked where she’d burned her friend, and her hands began to shake. She began to feel nauseous, and scrambled to her feet, running away from what she’d done.

 

Alex had seen Karo’s hands shaking after she’d finished, and saw her fleeing the room out of the corner of his eye. Without looking up from the bandage he was working on, he called out, “Go on after her, Nico – we’re good here.” Nico looked to Chase for confirmation, but he was too focused on Gert to notice, so she took Alex’s advice and ran after her girlfriend. “What next?” he asked.

“She should get x-rays,” Dale’s voice sounded as exhausted as they all felt.

“But, if they take her to a hospital, they’ll have to notify the police,” Stacey warned.

“You do the x-rays,” Chase’s voice was flat, “Alex – have your contact set up a safe site, and Dale and Stacey can bring a portable x-ray machine. When we know she’s ok, we leave and you don’t follow. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” Dale and Stacey said simultaneously, and Dale added, “Just tell us when and where.”

“We’ll call back later today with an update,” Alex replied. “And, thanks.”

“She’s our daughter,” Dale’s voice cracked with emotion, “You know we’ll do anything for her and Molly.”

“Take care of her, Chase!” Stacey called out.

“Always,” Chase promised, focused on Gert’s face and torn between wanting her to wake up so he knew she was ok and wanting her to sleep through as much of the pain as possible.

Molly ended the call and crouched down next to Chase, “What next?”

“Take her back to our room to rest up until we get out of here?” Chase glancing over to Alex for confirmation.

Alex nodded and leaned back against the wall, stretching out his legs, “I’ll take care of getting someplace set up.”

Chase stood up, and lifted Gert in his arms. “I can take her,” Molly volunteered.

Chase shook his head, “Nah – I got her. I’ll pack us up while she’s asleep.”

Molly watched Chase leave and then sat down next to Alex. “Thanks, Alex.”

“For what?”

“Taking charge. Giving us a heads up. You take care of us, you know? Sometimes we take that for granted, until, you know, someone shoots my sister or something.”

Alex smiled wryly, “Thanks.”

Molly nodded over to the pantry door, “So – what do we do about the crazy person?”

“The ‘crazy person’ is Eiffel.”

Molly’s eyes widened and she muttered, “Fuck,” Alex chuckled at hearing her curse, but Molly didn’t notice and continued, “How did she find us?”

Alex shrugged, “No idea. She said she was here to rescue you and her ex-boyfriend Chase.”

“Didn’t the news say Chase was one of the kidnappers too?”

“Yep.”

“So, basically, she’s crazy.”

“Yep. Looked that way to me.”

“What do we do about her then?”

“I’m working on it.”

 

Eiffel huddled in the corner wondering if they were ever going to let her out. When they’d first put her in here, once her vision had cleared, she’d watched them through the window. The bullet had grazed Chase – she could see the blood on his side – but had hit the fat girl in the shoulder. She could hear some of the conversation, even if it was pretty muddled, but she saw everything that happened, and the girl’s screams came through when they were taking care of her shoulder. And the way Chase and Molly were acting? They really did care about the girl. 

So, either Stockholm Syndrome or the news reports were wrong, and Molly hadn’t been kidnapped. And, if Molly hadn’t been kidnapped, then Chase wasn’t only here to rescue her. Which meant he really did want to be with that girl.

And that made even less sense. At the dance, she’d made sure he saw her with Brandon, and she had been sure he’d come after her, but he hadn’t. She’d seen that girl dragging him away somewhere, and the next thing she knew the news was saying he’d helped kidnap Molly. If it was any other guy on the team she’d think that maybe he was doing it for the sex, but Chase hadn’t ever really been like the other guys. She’d thrown herself at him more than once and the only time she ever got further than making out was if he was drunk. And if it wasn’t just about sex – why choose that girl over her? Why would anyone choose that loud, annoying SJW over her?

None of this made sense, and she had no idea what they were going to do with her. If they had been kidnappers then why didn’t they just kill her? They had her gun and, as she was very aware, there was no one else for miles around. If they weren’t kidnappers, then what the hell were they doing hiding out here, and why were they calling the girl’s parents for help? Was this some kind of scam? Or a really weird reality show? Her eyes widened. Maybe she was on camera now!

Crap...if she was on camera, then they saw her taking that geek hostage and shooting the fat SJW. 

The door opened and she scrambled to her feet as the geek and Molly entered. She pasted on a smile and faked enthusiasm, “Molly! You’re ok! I was so worried – they said -”

“I know what they said,” Molly interrupted angrily. “It’s not true. Nobody kidnapped me. And we were all ok until you shot my sister.”

Eiffel blinked in surprise, “That fat girl is your sister?”

Alex swiveled around quickly and struggled to hold back a growling Molly, “I got this, Molls. Why don’t you tell Nico and Karo to start getting packed up, ok?”

Molly’s eyes glowed briefly before she blinked and then nodded, “Thanks, Alex.”

Alex clapped her on the back as she left and then turned to Eiffel. Before he could say anything she observed, “Dude – you really need to hit the gym. You could barely hold that little girl back.”

Alex grimaced. “Noted. If you were at all interested, Gert is probably going to be ok.”

“Gert?”

“The girl you shot. That’s her name.”

“Wow. Fat with a fat chick name too.”

Alex stared at Eiffel in disbelief. “Really? Attempted murder, and you’re still insulting the girl you nearly killed? Just how much of a psychopath are you?”

“It was an accident!” Eiffel threw her hands in the air.

Alex stalked forward, pointing back to the kitchen. “That was not an accident. You walked in here with a loaded gun, took a hostage, “ he pointed to himself, “and then shot someone. None of that was an accident.”

“I didn’t mean to shoot anyone!”

Alex shook his head, “Sorry, that’s not going to wash. You did it, you take responsibility for it.”

Eiffel narrowed her eyes, and gave in, “Fine, then. It was a mistake. I was only trying to help my boyfriend and a kidnapped teenage girl.”

Alex backed away and laughed, “You are seriously delusional, do you know that? Chase is not your boyfriend.”

Eiffel shrugged, “Well – he was. I mean, we had sex.”

“Stalker much?” Alex muttered. “He’s with someone else now.”

“That’s nothing. I’m sure it’s just about sex,” Eiffel dismissed.

“Look – I have known Chase pretty much my entire life and he has been in love with Gert since he was six years old. If it was just about sex with anyone then that was with you.”

Eiffel glared at him angrily, “That is not true! There is no way he would pick someone like her over me!”

Alex smirked, “You know? I bet he was thinking about her when he was with you. Tell me, did he ever call out your name during sex?” Alex backed away a step as he dodged the slap she aimed at him. “Thought so.” 

Alex went back to the door, brushing off the icy glare Eiffel aimed at him, “Look – we’ve got our own problems, and a delusional stalker is the last thing we need. We’re leaving here, and we’ll drop you off somewhere you can catch a bus back to L.A.”

“A bus!”

“Yes – a bus. It beats a police car.”

“I don’t know – maybe a police car is exactly what we need here. Between me and that fat chick -”

“Her name is Gert.”

“Whatever. Between me and Gert, who do you think the police will believe? Especially with the police looking for you?”

“Take the long view, if you’re capable of that. The warrant against us is a fake, and our parents are rich. If the police catch up to us, our parents will have us out of jail in an hour,” Alex bluffed, “However, the bullet you put in Gert’s shoulder is very real. So – who do you think should be more worried about the police?”

“So you’re doing me a favor?” she asked sarcastically.

Alex shrugged, “Your choice. We drop you off at a bus stop or we leave you here to hike back down on your own.”

Eiffel narrowed her eyes at him, “What the hell is going on with all of you? Why would you be hiding out up here when you could be back home?”

“Sorry – you have to be at least at level 4 to unlock my tragic backstory.”

“Excuse me?” Eiffel looked at him like he had two heads.

“Nevermind,” Alex muttered. “Scream if you need anything,” he suggested as he left, closing the door and wedging a chair under the handle behind him.

 

 

Karolina’s hands were balled into fists as she stared into the fire. She’d never be able to get the sound of Gert’s screams or the smell of her burning flesh out of her head. She’d gotten as far away as she could as soon as she finished, but she couldn’t outrun that. Nico had held her until her hands stopped shaking, but the thought of even trying to pull the light to her made her nauseous.

Intellectually she knew that it was the right thing to do and that it was what Gert would have wanted. She knew that every one of her friends – her family – would tell her that she’d done a good job. But they didn’t have to remember what it felt like to intentionally burn her. They weren’t the ones that had to wrap their heads around the fact that, at the time, it had been so….easy. She had expected it to be so much harder to intentionally hurt someone and what bothered her more than anything after it was over was that it was so fucking easy. Because how much like her father did that make her?

She was startled out of her thoughts by Nico sitting down and leaning against her, and pasted on a smile to cover her distraction. “We packed up?”

Nico nodded, “Yeah. Not that we had a whole lot, but yeah. How’re you doing?”

Karo shrugged, “I’ll be ok.” 

Nico smiled sadly, and reached out for one of Karo’s hands. Karo unclenched her fist and Nico planted a kiss on her palm. “Whatever I can do – I’m there for you.”

Karo’s smile became more genuine, “I know.”

Molly trudged into the room, dramatically dumping her bag on the ground near the fire and sprawling on top of it. “Ugh….I am so out of this place.”

“There’s a few bad memories here,” Nico agreed.

“Tell me about it. I find out I’m like, radioactive, and my sister gets shot, and I’m worried if we stay here any longer things are going to get even worse.”

“Not sure that’s possible, Molls,” Gert’s voice said softly from the entrance of the room. They all turned to see Gert, leaning heavily on Chase, slowly making her way into the room.

“You should be asleep!” Molly scolded.

Chase frowned, “Yeah, I tried that one.”

“Stop babying me!” Gert ordered, collapsing onto one end of the sofa. Chase sat down next to her and she leaned against him. “Chase said we’re leaving?”

“We need to get you xrays,” Molly declared, staring straight at her sister, waiting for an argument, and when she didn’t get one, she asked uneasily, “Why aren’t you arguing with me about that?”

“Because she’s already lost that argument with me,” Chase answered. 

“I did NOT lose,” Gert defended herself, “I conceded.” 

“As long as it gets you taken care of, I don’t care one way or the other,” Chase muttered, turning his head to press a kiss to her temple.

“Amen to that,” Molly agreed. “All we need is for Alex to get packed up, and then we can figure out what to do with Eiffel.”

“Eiffel?” Chase and Gert asked simultaneously.

Molly sighed, “She’s the crazy lady locked in the pantry. She was sort of stalking Chase, and said she wanted to save me because I was kidnapped.”

Chase closed his eyes, tilted his head back and groaned. Nico chuckled, “That’s what you get for sleeping with someone crazier than you are.”

Chase looked back up as he tried to remember, “I’m not sure if I ever did sleep with her. I mean, maybe? I was drunk a lot, so it could have happened, but I swear to god I don’t remember if I did or didn’t.”

Alex entered, carefully placed the computer bag on the table, dumped his other bag next to Molly, and sat down on the couch on the other side of Karo. “There is no doubt girl is delusional, but I think right now she’s mostly pissed off that you chose Gert over her.”

Chase huffed out a laugh, “It was never even a choice.”

Gert narrowed her eyes, “I should probably be offended by this conversation at some level, but, bitch shot me, so I’m kind of good with her being pissed off that the stereotypically attractive popular girl didn’t get the guy.”

Chase raised an eyebrow, “Are we going to have to go over how attractive you are again?”

Gert turned her head to face him, “You’re just prejudiced because of the sex - “

“LALALALALALA,” Molly said loudly, holding her hands over her ears, “I AM NOT LISTENING TO THIS...” After a few seconds she opened her eyes, realized the conversation had stopped, and put her hands down.

“Seriously?” Chase asked. “You had zero problem ratting us out to Dale and Stacey, and now talking about sex bothers you?”

“Unh-unh, I just told them you two were sleeping in the same bed – they filled the rest in on their own. That is MUCH different than getting the gory details from you two directly. I’d like to retain my innocence for a little while longer, thank you very much.”

“Do you have any idea of how much grief we’re going to give you when you get a boyfriend?” Gert asked with a smile.

“Or girlfriend,” Nico added with a smirk.

“That is so not fair!” Molly protested, “It’s not like I’m trying to stop you from….whatever….I just don’t want any details!”

Alex suppressed a smile as he stood up and held out his hands in an effort to steer the conversation in a different direction, “I’m with Molls on not wanting any details,” he started, seeing Molly stick out her tongue at her sister, and then turned to Molly and added, “But, when you do someday get involved with someone? They are definitely going to have to make it past all of us first.”

Molly groaned and pulled her hat down further on her head, dismissively muttering, “Whatever.”  
“So – Alex – what’s the plan? Did Darius have a place we could use to meet Dale and Stacey?” Chase asked.

Alex turned to face Chase and Gert, “Yep. Old warehouse – isolated, secure, and still has water and power. I figured I’d take Eiffel’s car, drop her off somewhere in the other direction, and then meet you there.”

“You want to be alone with that psycho?” Nico asked.

“Want – no. But I probably have the least against her out of all of us, plus I can call Darius for transportation after I ditch her car.” Alex sat back down, his hands braced against his knees, and continued, “It does leave us with the problem of where to go next, though.”

Chase tensed up and Gert turned to look at him questioningly. He flashed a tight smile at her, cleared his throat, and offered, “I have a place - there’s this kind of ruined mansion that should work for us.”

“Ruined mansion?” Alex asked suspiciously.

Chase hesitated for a moment, and then explained, “I ran away from home after Amy died, and I hid out there.”

“That would have been a couple of years ago,” Alex began to question.

“I’ve been back since then,” Chase broke in before Alex could continue, “I even got the electricity and water going. I went there whenever I needed to get away.”

“Get away from what?” Karo asked.

“And why did you run away in the first place?” Nico added. “You weren’t all that close to Amy.”

Chase sighed, and closed his eyes to collect himself. He hadn’t been sure if anyone other than Gert knew about his Dad, but from the questions he guessed they didn’t. Gert squeezed his hand to get his attention and whispered, “You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to.”

Chase nodded gratefully and whispered back, “It’s ok. It’s just a little hard to let go of secrets sometimes.” He cleared his throat and squeezed Gert’s hand tighter. 

Chase looked up at the others and began, “My Dad has been hurting my Mom and me for as long as I can remember. A lot of the time he was fine, but if something set him off, you just needed to get out of the way. And that was how my Mom and me lived – doing everything we could to keep him from going off on us, and getting out of the way when he did.” 

He took in the other’s expressions - Alex and Molly didn’t look too surprised – like they had an idea about it already - but Karo and Nico both appeared shocked. He looked down again, not wanting to meet their eyes and focused on the steady pressure from Gert’s hand holding his. “After Amy’s funeral, I couldn’t do it any more. I deliberately said something that I knew he would say was disrespectful and when he tried to hit me, I punched back. My Mom got in the middle of it all to try to stop the fight, and….I broke her arm. I didn’t mean to, but I was aiming for him and she got in the way.” 

He drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, painfully aware of how quiet the room had become. “I figured I was turning into him, and I had to get away before I hurt anyone else,” he confessed with a glance at Gert. “I found the mansion about a week after I left, and even after I came back that’s where I’d go whenever I needed to get away from him.” He looked up at Alex, “We’ll be safe there.”

“That was why you stayed over so many times,” Molly’s eyes flashed as she asked, “Did Dale and Stacey know?”

“Yeah, they did,” Gert confirmed.

Chase made the excuse, “They did apologize for not doing anything about it.”

“Don’t defend them,” Alex muttered angrily. “Don’t defend any of them. I’m sure they all knew and they all turned their backs on you.”

“But, we’re not them,” Karo added.

“We’re better then them,” Nico finished her girlfriend’s thought. “We will never let him hurt you or your Mom again.”

Chase brushed away a tear and sniffed, “Doesn’t matter now. Other than that last night when my Mom shot him, my Dad hasn’t hit either of us for a while. Not since I got big enough to beat him in a fight.”

Molly crossed her arms and glowered, “Your dad was always a jerk.”

Gert saw Chase biting back the impulse to defend his father, and she leaned in and kissed his cheek, whispering, “It’s ok if you still love him, though.” He smiled back at her sadly and nodded.

Alex saw Gert comforting Chase, and directed the attention back to himself to give them some privacy. “OK, then. Let’s get the van packed up – Chase, you stay back here to take care of Gert.” Gert smiled at him gratefully as the others started picking up their bags.

 

 

Alex made sure to stay a couple of paces behind Eiffel as he escorted her to the front drive. Between tying her hands in front of her, holding her gun on her, and using Lace as a guard dog, he was reasonably confident that he could get her back into her car without either of them being injured if she tried something stupid.

As they stepped outside he blinked to adjust his eyes to the brightness of the mid-morning sky and it took him a second to find the others. They were gathered by the side of the van, with Gert sitting in the open doorway to the cargo compartment, flanked by Chase and Molly. Karo and Nico stood by the front of the van, both with their arms folded and matching disapproving frowns on their faces. 

Eiffel’s face lit up when she saw Chase, and she began to rush toward him, but stopped in her tracks when Lace rushed in front of her and growled. Her eyes widened, and she tried to look around the dinosaur to get Chase’s attention, calling out, “Chase? Please, I was only trying to help you!”

“You shot my girlfriend!” he yelled back. 

“I was your girlfriend!” 

“No. You were a distraction, and I wish to god that I’d never met you.”

She froze and glared at him, “That’s a lie! You wanted me just like every other guy on the team did. I thought you were different, but, you’re just like the rest of them – a girl lets you fuck them and you’ll do anything to get more, no matter how fat or ugly she is.”

Molly’s growl was nearly feral as she rushed at Eiffel, her eyes glowing as she picked the girl up by her jacket and held her a foot off the ground, “I could throw you down a canyon and NO ONE would EVER know. They wouldn’t even find your fucking body, puta!”

Gert shouted, “Molly, no!” while the others rushed forward to try to pull Molly off of the other girl. 

Chase grabbed Molly’s arm to get her attention and Molly tried to shake him off, but he held on, begging, “Molly, no. She’s not worth it.”

Nico grabbed Molly’s face and turned it to look at her. “We’re better than our parents, remember?”

Molly closed her eyes, and nodded slowly, throwing Eiffel to the ground before she stalked back to the van where Gert pulled her into a hug with her good arm. Eiffel looked up them fearfully as Nico spit out, “Stay away from us. Next time we may not be able to stop her.”

“Next time we may not want to,” Chase corrected before he turned and walked to the van without a backwards glance.

Alex shook his head, muttering, “Well, this should be a fun trip.” He headed over to the van, patting Lace as he passed her, and ordered, “Keep an eye on her, girl, ” smirking as he saw the dinosaur planting herself directly in front of Eiffel, looking every bit like a cat ready to pounce on a terrified mouse.

Once he was out of Eiffel’s earshot he huddled with the others by the van. “You’ve got the address for the warehouse?”

Karo held up a phone, “Ready to go.”

“And Dale and Stacey’s number?”

Chase held up a second phone, “We’ll call them as soon as we know it’s safe there.”

Alex nodded, “OK – I’ll drop her majesty off somewhere with a bus stop and meet you at the warehouse. If I get held up, or if something goes wrong with meeting Dale and Stacey, go to Chase’s mansion. I’ll text you when I’m ready to head over there and you can give me the location then.” He stepped back and looked at everyone. “We all good?”

They all nodded in response, and Nico stepped forward to hug him, “Be careful, ok?”

“Always am.”

The others gathered around and joined in on the hug, with Gert reaching out from the van to hold his hand. “Don’t make us come find you, cause that’s going to be a lot harder without Nico’s staff,” she warned.

Alex nodded, smiling as he backed away from the group. “I’m going to be fine, and I will find you. Then we can all go back to worrying about whatever is going on in that hole in the ground.”

He stepped back to where Lace was guarding Eiffel, and patted the dinosaur, who looked up at him skeptically. Molly whistled and Alex nodded toward the van, “Go on, girl, I got this.” He watched as Lace raced over to the van and then carefully stepped around Gert before curling up inside.

“So, what now?” Eiffel asked.

“Now you have a bus to catch.”

“You were not serious about that.”

“I was very serious about that.’

“Do you know what kind of diseases you can catch on a bus?”

Alex shook his head, reaching down to help Eiffel to her feet. “I think you are about to get a crash course on how the other half lives.”

Eiffel rolled her eyes, “Please. It’s not like I’ve never met poor people. We do have maids, you know.”

Alex raised an eyebrow, “Give me the name of one of your maids.”

Eiffel hesitated for a moment and as Alex started to smirk she sputtered out, “Maria!”

“You are so guessing.”

“We have gardeners too!”

“Let me guess – Jose?”

“No – Ramon!”

Alex sighed as he opened the back door of Eiffel’s car and helped her in, tying her hands to the head rest for the front passenger seat and making sure the child lock was set on the back door before climbing in to the driver’s seat. “You may want to get some rest. It’s a long ride down.’

“You know this is kidnapping, right?”

“You mean like when you held a gun to my head and took me hostage? Because, if we’re playing that, you’re still ahead with attempted murder.”

“That was an ACCIDENT!”

“Nope,” Alex said, shifting into second gear for the trip down so he didn’t burn out the brakes, “might have been a mistake, but it wasn’t an accident.”

“Fine. Whatever,” Eiffel muttered, slouching back in the seat as much as she could with her hands tied to the headrest.

Alex sighed. Six hours at most to get her to a bus stop. Another couple of hours until he could catch up with the others, and then god knew how long before they could stop their parents and get their lives back. So – six hours? He could do that.

“Could you at least play some music?” Eiffel called out from the back.

Alex shrugged and hit “play” on the stereo. The car was immediately enveloped by some sort of bouncy K-Pop sounding song. “Aw, hell no,” he muttered turning the stereo off with extreme prejudice.

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Do you want me to list that alphabetically?” he asked, concentrating on the curving road in front of him.

“I would have thought you at least knew something about music,” he could see her smirk in the rearview mirror. 

Five hours and fifty-nine minutes left, and he began to wonder if stopping Molly was a mistake.

 

Epilogue – Six Months Later

 

Nico’s lip curled up as she looked at the food on her tray. She had spent months dumpster diving and eating junk food, and that was better than what passed for lunch at Atlas Academy. If they hadn’t had mission #2 – bring the attempted rapists to justice – she’d have turned her back on this place and jumped at the offer Shield had made to them after they’d turned their parents in. 

She knew Shield was probably more interested in the staff than they necessarily were in her, but she thought they had impressed Agent Coulson at least a little. OK, it had taken Alex nearly a month to make it back to them thanks to the bitch who shall not be named, and her and Karo and Gert and Chase had been captured when they’d gone for the staff so they could use it to heal Gert’s shoulder. But they’d hung together and resisted everything their parents threw at them while they’d been captured. And after Molly and Alex rescued them, they destroyed the spaceship that threatened L.A. and made sure their parents were locked in prison.

So, if Shield wasn’t impressed by them they damn sure should be. She kind of thought they were, though. Why else would they have agreed to their request for a group home and finishing up school at Atlas? And if Shield suspected they had an ulterior motive in coming back to Atlas, they hadn’t called them on it. Not yet at least. She got that they were an investment for them – sort of like reserve troops – and Shield needed them to be in top form if they were needed. 

Not to mention the amount of research Shield had put into helping Molly with the radiation. Chase had been in full geek mode for weeks working with the scientists until they finally came up with a bracelet that controlled the radiation for her the way Karo’s worked on her powers. Gert was still bragging that Tony Stark and Reed Richards had been fighting with each other over getting Chase as their intern.

So, they had obligations to Shield, but a kind of limited free agency. They wouldn’t be called on just yet – Shield did at least have some passing respect for child labor laws, but they were at a minimum indebted to them. She sighed heavily – at least Shield wasn’t run by an alien. Or, she didn’t think it was. You never could tell with some of these government acronym groups.

Her expression softened as she saw Karo and the others already at what had become the group’s official table, and sat down next to her, giving her a peck on the lips and ignoring the stares from their other classmates.

Karo smiled playfully, “Gee – you’d think they’d never seen lesbians before.”

“Chase and I get stares too,” Gert shrugged. “I think the infamy of testifying against our parents is more significant than the novelty of two girls kissing.”

Alex nodded, “Yeah – I’m going with Gert on this one. We’re all getting stares.”

“Hey,” Molly leaned in over the table, “If we finish up mission 2 early, do we still have to stay here? Because being back here is soooo weird.”

“Yeah – I’m with Molly on this. We could all just study for GEDs instead of cramming to make up this year’s classes.” Chase agreed.

Gert shook her head, “Easier to get into college with a high school diploma instead of a GED, although we could all probably write killer application essays based on real-world experiences that would make up for that deficiency.” Gert looked over to a table on the side of that plaza with a banner entitled, “SMASH THE PATRIARCHY”, and sighed.

“You could probably join them?” Chase suggested.

Gert looked over the to the people staffing the table and saw that they had noticed her. She held up a finger and instructed, “Watch this.” She grabbed Chase by the front of his shirt and pulled him into a kiss. It took him a second to recover from the surprise, but when he did he wrapped his arms around her and returned the kiss, pulling her onto his lap. 

Molly rolled her eyes, “Guys! PDA! There are rules!”

Gert pulled away from the kiss, smiled, raised an eyebrow, and pointed back at the table. The people who had been staffing it glared at her angrily. “It appears I am a traitor to the cause.”

“Heterosexuality makes you a traitor to feminism?” Alex asked, confused.

“Not heterosexuality per se, but heterosexuality involving a jock.”

“Ex-jock,” Chase corrected.

Gert shrugged, “Moot point. Once a jock, always a jock. There is no redemption for that fall from grace.”

Nico huffed out a laugh, “Wow. And I thought I was judgmental.”

“They’ll figure it out eventually. Ideological purity tests and a priori assumptions about policy stance based on demographics won’t hold up in the long run. They’ll need to broaden their tent to make any kind of progress.” Gert mused, picking at the food on her plate while Chase gazed at her adoringly.

“That’s it!” Molly pointed to Chase, “Right there! That’s the lovestruck puppy thing I was talking about!” Gert glanced at Molly curiously, noticed Chase looking at her, and returned an equally smitten smile. Molly threw her hands up in the air, “And now they're BOTH doing it!” She started stuffing books in her bags, muttering, “I give up – you’ve actually driven me to go to physics early. I hope you’re happy with yourselves!”

As Molly turned to leave both Gert and Chase broke down in laughter. Molly gave them the finger without turning around and shouted back at them, “I heard that!”

“She does have a point though,” Karo observed.

“About the puppy-dog thing?” Chase asked.

“No – I mean what do we do when this mission is over? Because it is so fucking weird to be here,” Karo looked around the plaza with a frown.

Nico nodded in agreement, “It is really weird.”

Alex sighed, “Yeah, I guess so.” He thought for a moment, and then nodded to himself as he formed a plan. “Chase – could you get back on the team?”

Chase grimaced, “Really?”

Alex shrugged, “Sorry, but we need someone on the inside who can tell us where and when those two are going to be at parties.”

“I don’t think I need to join the team for that - “

“Look – you have a girlfriend now, and – trust me – the ENTIRE school knows you have a girlfriend,” Alex pointed out. 

Chase and Gert looked at each other and shrugged. “Your point being?” Gert asked.

“Why did you go to those parties?”

Chase closed his eyes, anticipating where Alex was going, “To get drunk.”

“And what did you do when you got drunk?”

“Rumor has it that I hooked up with random girls. Mostly.”

“Exactly – if you’re not there to get drunk and hook up, the only reason for you to be there would be as a member of the team.”

Chase dropped his head to the table and groaned. Gert rubbed his back comfortingly and suggested, “What if we both went to the party, got drunk and hooked up with each other?” Alex raised an eyebrow, and Gert shrugged, dismissing the idea.

“Hey, Wilder!” Alex closed his eyes and grimaced while the others slowly turned to watch Eiffel heading toward their table. “Look at you, being all fifth-wheel.”

Karolina glared at her and demanded, “What do you want?”

Eiffel raised an eyebrow, “From you? Nothing. I would like to talk to my good friend Alex, however.” None of them moved, so she leaned forward on the table and added, “Alone.”

Nico leaned closer to her, “No.”

“Over our dead bodies!” Gert added.

“That could be arranged,” Eiffel shot back.

“You know, maybe we should see if Molly wants to express an opinion on this?” Chase asked innocently, his mouth turning up into a smile as he saw Eiffel grow pale at the suggestion.

“Look,” Alex stood up, “We can pick this up later at home. Why don’t you get to class, and I’ll talk to Eiffel for the,” he checked his watch, “four and a half minutes left in lunch.” 

As they got up to leave, Nico pulled Alex aside, “Be careful, ok? You like arguing with her way too much.”

Alex’s mouth dropped open, “Just what are you trying to insinuate?” Nico stared at him blankly until he rolled his eyes and conceded, “Yeah, I get the trope.” 

“Good, because I have not yet used a spell to turn someone into a newt and I’m pretty sure I could find a potion or two I could use one for.”

The others all left, glaring at Eiffel as they went. She sat down across from Alex and pulled a french fry off his tray, “I don’t think they like me.”

“You shot Gert.”

“It was - “ seeing Alex’s glare she stopped what she was about to say and pasted on a smile, “It was a mistake.”

“Which you don’t seem particularly sorry for.”

Eiffel shrugged, “The news said you were kidnappers.” She pulled another french fry from his tray. Alex raised an eyebrow and waited. Eiffel noticed the lull in the conversation and looked at him in irritation, “What?”

“You never apologized, you know that?”

“For shooting Gert? Are you sure? I thought I had.”

“Saying it was a mistake isn’t saying you were sorry you did it.”

Eiffel rolled her eyes, “Fine. Next time I see her I’ll tell her I’m sorry she got in the way when I was trying to protect myself from her dinosaur.”

Alex closed his eyes and sighed, “So, yeah, that’s not going to work.” Eiffel shrugged and grabbed another french fry. “What did you want to talk about, Eiffel?” Alex asked with exaggerated patience, looking at his watch and seeing he still had three minutes left.

Eiffel looked around to make sure no one was listening in, and leaned in over the table toward him. “I need your help.”

“With?”

Eiffel frowned and put on an expression more serious than Alex had ever seen on her before. “Nadine Collins. She’s a freshman on the dance team, and – against my advice – she went to one of the team parties. She says she only had one drink, but somehow she passed out and she doesn’t remember anything about what happened after that. She had been a virgin before the party, but she’s pregnant now, and, she’s a sweet kid, but not that sweet.”

Alex frowned and looked at Eiffel suspiciously, “Why do you think I can help you?”

Eiffel raised an eyebrow, “First, you’re the sneakiest motherfucker I have ever met and if anyone can find the assholes who did this it’s you. Second, I kind of think you’re already working on it.”

Alex forced himself to not react and asked, “Why is that?”

Eiffel leaned back and smiled, “You know, you don’t blink when you’re hiding something. For future reference if you ever want to perfect your poker face.” 

Alex closed his eyes and shook his head, not surprised that Eiffel could read him. After all, they had spent a month together on the run. Which, he should remind himself, was all her fault. Because she had somehow thought screaming that she was being kidnapped at a rest stop on the Arizona border was a good idea, and that the Nazi flags on the jackets of the bikers at the rest stop were just decorative. And then that it would be a good idea to try to save him from them by taking it back and saying he was her boyfriend and they were just having a fight. On the other hand, it felt fucking fantastic when they got the gang arrested for meth distribution. 

All things considered, though, he really didn’t want to relive any of that and he was pretty sure any kind of involvement with her would end up in disaster. But still – if she had figured it out, then maybe their targets had as well, so he needed more details about what she knew. He crossed his arms and leaned back, “Thanks for the advice. But you didn’t answer my question – why do you think I care what goes on at one of those parties?”

Eiffel smirked, knowing she had him hooked, “Because there’s going to be a paternity test, and Brandon and Lucas are telling everyone that Nadine came on to them, which sounds a hell of a lot like what they were saying about your friend Karolina. Your lesbian friend Karolina. I’m guessing that she was luckier than Nadine because Chase was there to save her from them, which also explains why he mysteriously quit the team and picked a fight with them after.”

“If that was true, what makes you think we’re doing something about it?”

Eiffel laughed, “Really? You just threw all your parents into prison. I watched you set up Nazi bikers for meth distribution charges. You’re not going to let a couple of asshole rapists get away.”

Alex gave a defeated sigh, “Alright - I’m not admitting anything, but if I was going to help you, what would I be doing?”

The bell signaling the end of lunch chimed. Eiffel smiled and leaned forward, “I need you to come to a party as my escort so you can put your big brain to work and figure out how to take them down.” She kissed him on the cheek and quickly got up to leave, waving at him, “Pick me up at seven tonight. Dress….a little less like a nerd than usual.”

Alex leaned back in his chair, staring ahead blankly. Well, fuck. It was actually a good plan, and allies were always good, even if Eiffel was a loose cannon. The big question was how did he keep Nico from turning her into a newt.


End file.
